Dead Birds

ARTICLES ABOUT DEAD BIRDS BY DATE - PAGE 2

By Joseph Ruzich and Clifford Ward and Special to the Tribune | October 26, 2012

More than 300 living birds and 120 dead ones were removed Friday from an Aurora townhouse that had been declared a health hazard, officials said. A seven-member crew worked six hours to remove the birds, according to a news release from the city of Aurora. The 325 living birds "appeared to be in good condition" and were turned over to the Greater Chicago Cage Bird Club, the city said. The birds, which included parakeets, cockatiels, conures, canaries, doves and finches, will be held for a 30- to 60-day quarantine because they were exposed to poor air quality conditions in the home.

The city of Aurora went to court to seek access to a townhouse filled with perhaps hundreds of birds after the owner said he couldn't afford to pay the $13,000 the city planned to charge him to capture his pets. David Skeberdis, 57, conducted an impromptu news conference for a small flock of reporters outside his residence, which was roped off with yellow police tape outside, and inside was filled with anywhere from 80 to 300 parakeets, conures and other birds, some of them dead.

An Aurora home where officials found dozens of birds, some of them dead, has been declared unfit for human habitation, police said. Firefighters went into the home in the 200 block of Shady Brook Lane in Aurora about 10:15 a.m. today, police said in a news release. A painting contractor alerted police on Wednesday about the home after seeing several dead birds inside, according to a release from Aurora police. City inspectors and animal control came out to the home soon after police, and began investigating after seeing throgh the windows what the conditions in the home were.

What will become of my ovenbird? It isn't really "my" ovenbird. But I found it lying dead on our deck, a lovely little greenish bird with a faint orange crown and a white underside streaked with dark spots. It had slammed into a window, a common occurrence this time of year. More than 100,000 and possibly more than a million birds a year are killed during the spring and fall migrations when they crash into windows, estimates Doug Stotz, conservation ornithologist in the department of environmental conservation programs at the Field Museum.

More dead fowl were found Thursday in a Southwest Side park, and officials are warning against fishing in or walking pets near the ponds there while the cause is investigated. The Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources collected the remains of seven geese and two mallards from near an island in McKinley's lagoon Thursday. In addition to Thursday's seven, 10 dead geese were retrieved from the park, at 2210 W. Pershing Road, on Wednesday and six others on Tuesday.

Parts of McKinley Park on the Southwest Side should be avoided until officials can figure out why at least 16 geese died there over two days. The dead geese were found near the park's pond and its softball fields, according to the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control. Six dead birds were found Tuesday by a park-goer and Chicago police officers found 10 others Wednesday morning. Two additional geese were found dead Tuesday at 3100 S. Archer Ave., near the Stevenson Expressway and not far from the park.

Avian disasters The dead bird trend continues. First it was blackbirds falling in Arkansas and Louisiana. Then on Sunday, a bunch of Philadelphia Eagles went down. And now, Chicago Bears fans are forecasting the separate but related demise this weekend of some Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons. All of which would lead to a Bears-Packers matchup in the NFC title game. Now there's a sign of the apocalypse. Just asking If Metra is so good at creating these "quiet cars," what can it do for parents on long driving trips with small children?

Hold the mayo Idaho police say they've arrested a Boise woman who has been dropping condiments in a library drop box. Joy Cassidy, 74, was arrested Sunday after police say she dumped a jar of mayo in the box at Ada County Library. Authorities say she's a person of interest in 10 other similar instances there involving condiments over the last year. You could say it took them a while to ketchup with her. Oops Meanwhile, Pittsburgh police are looking for a man they say robbed a convenience store of seven packs of cigarettes and $1. Yes, you read that correctly.

When David Willard was 7 years old, he used to watch the birds dining on the fermented apples of his grandfather's Wisconsin apple orchard. That they appeared drunk with delight so enamored Willard that he spent hours watching birds everywhere he went and reading "The Burgess Bird Book for Children," which he checked out of his school library more than 30 times. His childhood passion eventually landed him a gig at the Field Museum, where he's been since 1978. The grayish 62-year-old is the collection manager of the museum's bird division.

A bird slammed into my living room window a few minutes after dawn on Sunday. I heard it -- thwack! -- and glanced up just in time to see it fall. It seemed to hover for a split second after bouncing off the glass and then it dropped, fast and straight, its body strangely heavy, like a sack of nickels. Other birds frolicked on in the bare branches of the trees out front, but for half a minute I sat frozen, feeling like the witness to a murder. We all know about birds that crash into Chicago's skyscrapers, but I live on the third floor of an old three-flat, shielded by a couple of tall trees, so this crash felt freakish.